as I said on a post I published just before on the main blog I was recently thinking of doing some early Oronegrean history either in the era of the conquistadors or the 18th century or a strange mix of them both. well I have concluded that it should be set in the 18th century with a few conquistador style people running around! The only problem is that what figures to get, well the conquistadors are the least of my worries. the problem is which of the many musket wielding figures out there do I want to represent Oronegro. well after looking at all the sets on PSR that had tricorns and then looking at which ones would best suit my idea of the Oronegreans I was disappointed so I looked a bit later at the Napoleonic period. Here I found some suitable candidates for some Oronegrean infantry as well as some conversion opportunities.
I want tricorns so I am not about to give up because there are not any suitable sets I shall convert these bicorn and shako wearing heathens into some true imperial forces! However I am going to make an exception for some helmeted forces... and after a search through the nappies I found that Austria could hold the greatest potential.
look at these sets
What interests me about these is the conversion possibilities, the helmets I'll keep but the other more foolish looking hats will be cut off and replaced by tricorns. Here are the other possible sets, that also include the helmets
this set does include some unwanted Prussians but perhaps a use can be found for them also
this is an older set from Italeri but more of the infantry in this one have the helmet.
But what story do these sets have for Oronegro. Well as I've said this is a recent concept and I am not done refining possible stories. there is some way to go and the project may not see the light of day but with enough encouragement/nagging perhaps I will go into some early Oronegrean history!
Early Oronegro sound interesting. You can switch periods bu still keep the story running.
ReplyDeleteJust a warning though, the first Italeri set you show is a very nice one, I own it, but the figures are quite large and the plastic is very, very, hard, I don't think they will convert easily.
Other than that tip, I'm all for it!
thanks for the tip. perhaps I can improvise either heating up a knife over a flame or maybe a steak knife. hmm we'll see.
Deletedo not worry about the story. this is infact practcally a prelude. Oronegro needs to have an early history and now I think I might try make it. besides Oronegro is an old name refering to the coco plantations the black gold was chocolate not oil so perhaps this could be the first war for the black gold while the civil war will involve the other. :-) there we go I have just got a story thanks for the prompting or I would not have thought of this.
A Horse & Musket Oronegro is a great idea (for me, 'hooked' to Lace Wars Imagi-Nations since I read Charles Grant's 'The War Game' some 40 years ago, I'd suggest emphasis on the mid-18th C. the period of the FIW and of swashbuckling, if unhistorical, pirates in tricorne).
ReplyDeleteTo enjoy gaming in two or more periods it's indeed better to play the same country: any effort put in one period benefits the whole background.
Hopefully the corresponding posts will become very numerous: may I suggest a special 'label' for them, for easier perusing of your archives when thay have reached a library size?
Cheers and best regards, Jean-Louis
of coarse the same country. Oronegro is my pride and joy, I really like how in one year I have managed to set up the near future conflict and with this new era I wish to go one perhaps an earlier time can be explored :-D
Deleteoh and welcome to the blog
I've not seen the Italieri pre-1805 Austrian pack before - those guys with the casquet-type helmet are rather unusual. This is the one that looks like a low cylinder with a tall false front. This was worn by Austrian fusiliers from some time before 1790, I believe. I would suggest that those guys need not require much (if anything) in the way of conversion. (Note, by the way that 'fusilier' in Austrian parlance was the same as 'musketeer' in, say, the Prussian. The Prussians also had troops they called 'fusiliers', but they were considered slightly inferior to your true musketeer. Just to confuse the issue, in British service, fusiliers were considered almost elite types...)
ReplyDeleteThey can therefore represent standard line fusiliers in the Austrian sense, or as the lesser brethren with the crested helmet guys being line. Not only that, but the casquet helmet is perfectly appropriate for light infantry, jager, and even grenzers The fur cap guys are grenadiers, who had been wearing such headgear throughout the 18th century. The crested helmet (worn by line fusiliers and light infantry) lasted only from 1798 to 1806 officially (though that hasn't affected my preference for this headgear for my own Napoleonic Austrians).
So far as the 1798-1805 pack is concerned, then, the only conversions I would make are a few head swaps to unify the command elements. If the grenadiers are to form separate battalions, you might want a command element for them, too. The choice there is to get a post 1805 box for the extra fur cap and helmet guys, but focus more on the casquet dudes as forming the bulk of your army.
The helmet guys are more anachronistic for the period I think you have in mind, but the headgear looks so good, I suggest making up the figures you have into a unit. The casquet guys are at least as versatile as tricorne guys would be, except you would be looking more at late-ish 18th century, rather than mid.
Cheers,
Ion
I tried hunting the net for info on the casquet hat, without much luck, unfortunately. However, the Osprey book #176 (Austrian Army of the Napoleonic Wars: Infantry)mentions on p13 that "[the] Head-dress for fusiliers was the Casquet, a squat, peakless leather cap with a taller false front bearing a brass plate; until 1790 this was embossed with the Emperor's cypher, when it was replaced by a double-headed eagle."
ReplyDeleteIf you still prefer tricorne hatted dudes, check out (if you haven't already) the Revell 7YW Austrians - infantry, dragoons and artillery; and the Prussian hussars (Zvezda do good hussars as well, calling them the Prussian Black hussars, but they can equally well be the White, Green, Red,,, etc). The difficulty remains that no one does 7YW Heavy Cavalry in plastic that I know of. But those that I've mentioned are very nice figures.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the Revell Prussians get pretty much panned in Plastic soldier review. In my opinion, this judgment is only partially deserved, as the figures paint up quite well. You will be seeing some of these Prussians (Altmark-Uberheim) in my blog in the next day or two.
Cheers,
Ion
WOW that was a lot for me to read in one morning... all very interesting. I must say that after reading it all I am in need of finding an award to give you. This is the sort of stuff I made this blog for long discussions :-D
DeleteI am glad to get this information and like you said although the helmet is better suited to the late 18th century I am trying to put it into a mid context. I thnik you are right and also I hace looked at the 7YW stuff the austrian cannons are going to be Oronegrean cannon if I can put my mind to rest.
anyway you have given my a lot to think about so I may do a post in responce